Railroad-frog



F. G. WEIR.. Railroad Frogs.

No. 230,454, Paiemed July 2.7, 1880.

L r l I u ,lill

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERIC C. WEIR, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

RAI LROAD'FROG.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 230,454, dated July 27, 1880.

Application filed February 20. 1880.

lTo all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERIC C. lEIR, of Cincinnati, Hamilton county, State of Ollio, have invented an Improvement in Railroad- Frogs, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the class of frogs made by the bending of the overlapping ends of the rails themselves, and known as springrail frogs, and is designed as van improvemeit on Patent No. 220,264, dated October 7, 187 i My invention consists, first, in the use of a exible joint at the point end of the spring or movable wing-rail; and, secondly, in the oonstruction of the U-shaped strap, secured by bolts or rivets to the web of the spring or movable wing-rail, the same passing under and around the sliding plate provided for the spring-rail to move upon, and secured to the web of the movable rail by bolts on each side of the sliding plate.

The first object of my invention is to provide a way to construct a spring or movable wing-rail frog of the ordinary length ofthe usual stationary rail-frogs-say from six to ten feet-instead of making them from fifteen to twenty feet in length, as has heretofore been a spring of the movable rail itself or attach T-rail, having its movable or spring wing-rail 9o such a strong spring to move the extra heavy weight of rails heretofore used.

The second object of my invention is to provide a stronger means of holding down the spring' or movable wing-rail than has heretofore been used, and which I do by passing the U-shaped strap around and under the sliding plate and boltin g the ends of the straps to the web of the rail, and not to the bottom flange, which has been sometimes done, the latter practice being very objectionable, as it weakens the vital part of the rail to put holes in the bottom ange.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan of a frog embodying my improvements.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of joint, partly in section. Fig. 3 is a modification of the manner of constructing the flexible joint. Fig. 4 55 is a cross-section on line x a, Fig. l.

A is the spring or movable wing-rail of the frog, showing the exible joint. The ilexible joint is made by inserting thimbles or sleeves C in the fish-plate bolt-ho1es,` which are en- 6o larged for the purpose, and by bending the outside fish-plate, D, outward enough-say halt' an inch at the end of the sh-plate--to give the required motion to the sprin g or movable wing-rail at the point of the frog and se- 65 curing the fish-plates tight up to the thimbles f C, and thus permit of the movable wing-rail vibrating on the thimble and between the fishplates or it may be accomplished by inserting one or more pins, G, in either side of the ish- 7o plate bolt and screwing the fish-plates up to the pins, as shown in Fig. 3; or it may be accomplished by providing a shoulder on the bolts I, as shown in Fig. 2, for the nuts to screw up against, so as not to have the ishplates press tightly against the web of the rail; but the thimble or sleeve arrangement is preferable, as it is stronger and insures a bearing all around the bolt on the fish-plate. j

A spring, E, is provided for holding the 8o movable railup against the point rail, as shown in Fig. 1.

B is the U-shaped strap secured to the web of the movable wing-rail and passed under and around the sliding plate J, the better to secure 8 5 the movable wing-rail from jumping up when a moving'wheel strikes the other end of it.

Having described my invention, I claim- 1. Afrogconstructed of the ordinary-shaped secured to the fixed rails of the track by means of fish-.plates spread apart at one end to accommodate the movement of the spring-rail, substantially as specified.

2. A U-shaped strap secured to the web of the movable wing-rail and passing under and around the sliding plate of a spring or movable wing-rail frog, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

FREDERIC C. WEIR. 

